Honor: Loving People

I’ve been camped out on the word “honor” for some time now. This is the first of several posts I’ll be making on honor.

Honor. It is a word you don’t hear much anymore in this country. We’ve lost it through the generations. And a tremendous loss it is…systemic in my opinion.

The root of honor is love, God’s love. There are several definitions of honor in the Hebrew and Greek. The word I am referring to means to prize, to revere, to value, to esteem. We are commanded to love one another and honor one another. Does that mean everyone? Yes, everyone! Those people who have wounded you, spat nasty words in your face, and totally dishonored you. What?! I know! 

When the Holy Spirit began imploring me to love people who set my teeth on edge and rubbed me the wrong way in a big way, I was like a five-year-old defiantly standing with my hands on my hips, “You want me to WHAT?” He kept insisting and, since I desired to honor God, I allowed Him to love those people through me. He did it! It has been remarkable how He has changed my heart and opened my eyes. Trust me, there is still plenty of work for Him to do but I now have a willing heart - most of the time anyway. 

We honor God by honoring other people. This Baby Boomer was brought up to honor authority but God expects us to honor everyone: the service person who is more interested in chatting with their coworker than waiting on you, the neighbor who gossips about you, the people who snub you, ridicule you and mock you. In other words, to be a reflection of Jesus.

I was reminded recently of the process used in refining gold. The gold is heated to a high temperature and the impurities are continually skimmed off the top. The refining process is complete when the refiner can see his/her reflection in the gold. It is my desire to continue to allow God to refine me until He sees the reflection of His Son in me. 

So if you hear “ouch”, “that’s hot”, or “does it have to hurt this much?” coming from my direction, it’s just the refining process. It is a good thing. =)